Issue 7September 1998

Here is an example of a UFO sighting and two interpretations of
the event, worth considering.

The following report was among RAAF UFO sighting files first examined
by Bill Chalker in 1975. Two US servicemen stationed at the US
Navy's Communications Station at North West Cape independently
observed a mysterious object. The base incorporates a NSA facility
within the Naval Security Group. Area 'B' within the base contains
a high-frequency transmitter.

At about 7.15pm, Lt. Commander M[censored], USN, was driving south
from the Communications Station to nearby Exmouth when he saw
a 'large black airborne object' in the west at a distance
of about 5 miles (8kin). He watched it hover, at an estimated
altitude of 200Oft (60Ore), for about 20-25seconds. It then flew
off to the north, 'accelerating beyond belief'. Lt. Cdr.
M said he had 'never experienced anything like it.' The
UFO made no noise and Left no exhaust or contrail.

At much the same time, Fire Captain (USN) Bill L[censored] was
on the base itself when he was called to close the officer's club.
In his own words: 'I proceeded towards the Club in the Fire
Department pick-up 488, when my attention was drawn to a large
black object, which at first I took to be a small cloud formation,
due west of Area "B". Whilst travelling towards the
Officers' Club I couldn't help but be attracted by this object's
appearance.

'On alighting from pick-up 488, I stood for several minutes
and watched this black sphere hovering. The skies were clear and
pale green-blue. No clouds were about whatsoever. The object was
completely stationary except for a halo round the center, which
appeared to be either revolving or pulsating. After I had stood
watching it for approx. 4 minutes, it suddenly took off at tremendous
speed and disappeared in a northerly direction, in a few seconds.

'I consider this object to have been approx. 10 metres [3Oft]
in diameter, hovering at 300 metres [985ft] over the hills [Mt
Athol] due west of the base. It was black, maybe due to my looking
in the direction of the setting sun. No tights appeared on it
at any time.

Australia and the NSA

In 1973, Australia hosted a quite different multiply witnessed
UFO event (see Case #27). Bill Chalker, who discovered the sighting
report, put an intriguing spin on the mysterious black object,
seen by two American witnesses a considerable distance apart,
that hovered near the US Navy's top-security Communications Station
at North West Cape, Western Australia. Chalker saw the event in
the context of the Yom Kippur war. Hostilities began on 6th October
1973 with a simultaneous attack by Egypt, Jordan and Syria on
Israel, whose general staff had misread the military situation
and were caught unprepared. On all fronts a desperate fighting
withdrawal began as Israel's citizen army frantically mobilized;
the battlefields saw scenes of unbelievable heroism, especially
in the hard-won tank battles on the Golan Heights. Then, on 11th
October, North West Cape and the other US bases in Australia went
to a high alert.

The reason for this (not elucidated by Chalker) was that, having
begun a successful counter-attack against Egyptian forces on 8
October, the Israelis launched another against Syria at 11.00am
local time on 11th October. Within six hours they had knocked
the Syrian forces back by 10 miles (15km), and in places twice
that. Looming behind the contestants were the Soviet Union, standing
by the Arab nations, and the USA, backing Israel. The Americans
believed that the Soviet Union might support its clients directly
if Israel decisively turned the tide of the war. Israel did so,
but intense diplomacy averted escalation and a UN resolution called
for a cease-fire at 6.52pm on 22nd October. The combatants accepted
the deadline, but bitter fighting continued on the southern Egyptian
front until late on 24 October.

At this point, as Chalker notes, the NSA's misreading of a signal
from Syria to the USSR in turn misled the US government into thinking
the Soviets were preparing airborne divisions to move into the
Middle East. On 25th October came the reaction. The North West
Cape station signaled US forces in the region, putting them on
nuclear alert - without telling the Australian government. And
on the same day a mysterious black UFO visited the NSA/US Navy
station at North West Cape.

Chalker wonders if this UFO event is the one glimpsed at paragraph
9 of NSA's top-secret affidavit of 1980 to the US Federal court,
which discusses NSA SIGINT (signals intelligence). Chalker does
not pretend to know if the strange black object was a remote-controlled
drone of either a friendly or hostile power, or a bona-fide UFO.
But he does conclude that the case shows that UFO sightings may
harbour implications for national security. Chalker is undoubtedly
correct, if the object was indeed a piece of airborne hardware.
But the fact that the witnesses may both have been in possession
of a terrible secret that, for all they knew, was the first step
toward Armageddon, may also be the key to their experiences. Several
ufologists have observed how UFO sightings increase in times of
national (which is also personal) stress, shock, or unease about
the future. American UFO flaps, in the days when they used to
happen, bloomed regularly in the late summer of presidential election
years. The flap of 1973 (in which this sighting may reasonably
be counted) began amid far greater uncertainty, with the first
congressional hearings on Watergate, chaos in the Nixon administration,
and tile scandal-ridden resignation of Vice-president Spiro Agnew.
It peaked against the background of the Yom Kippur war and the
ensuing crisis in which oil prices tripled overnight.

While it seems altogether likely that a physical object of some
kind triggered the sighting, this UFO is strikingly symbolic.
Like a mocking negation of the antipodean sun, black and foreboding,
it hangs in the west, the traditional direction of death, and
disappears into the war-torn wasteland of the north. A psychosocial
interpretation of this case at least deserves some consideration.
(Source: UFO and Government Files, Peter Brookesmith, Blandford
London 1996 p134-136 Case #27 The UFO and the Nuclear Alert NORTH
WEST CAPE, WESTERN AUSTRALIA 25.10.73. Credit: Clifford M Dubery
e-mail: duberycm@ocean.com.au - Sunday, 2nd August 1998. Diane
Harrison e-mail tkbnetw@fan.net.au M.O.R.E. Network (Mike Farrell),
and SkyWatch International)

The two females witnesses were travelling south on the Bruce Hwy
from Cairns to Babinda, they noticed a bright light in the sky
when they were north of Gordonvale and did not take much notice
of it. At Behanna Creek the object was now seen to the left side
of the road above the tree top level, although the night was dark
the witnesses believe the object was about 300m distant and 16cm
at arms length. It was a round shape with rays of light coming
off it. The driver of the vehicle sped up and the object paced
the car at keeping the same distance. The driver stopped the car
at road works traffic light at Mt Sophia, the object stopped similarly
at the same distance. The witnesses traveled to the next road
works traffic light north of Deeral where they stopped again.
The object stopped at similar distance again. The sky according
to the witnesses "went strange", the object dropped
down and now appeared as an orange/red crescent shape about 60cm
at arms length. Its light levels increased as white light lit
up the surrounding area as if daylight. The driver "floored
it" as the traffic light indicated green. The object
moved away becoming a small white light and continued to follow
the car at a distance. The witnesses stopped their car 6 minutes
later at the DPI inspection station north of Babinda. The object
went downwards and out of sight. The witnesses then drove home
without further incident. At no time did the witnesses hear any
sound emanating from the object.

Additional Information:

No air traffic movements were recorded in the area at the time.
The witnesses noticed no other cars on the highway when the object
was close. Staff at the DPI station apparently did not see the
object. The witnesses believe they saw the object again on the
24.06.98 at similar time but only as a bright point source light.
There were four people in the car this occasion. It did not follow
them. It remained stationary in the sky. (It seems likely
that this sighting was of an astronomical object although no definite
conclusion could be reached). Duration of sighting: 16
minutes, probably more. (UFOR(FNQ) - Investigator: Holly Goriss)

Two female witnesses travelling from Cairns to Babinda area observed
a very bright light just south of Cairns. The object was larger
and brighter than any stars and was described as pulsating in
brightness. The witnesses say the object followed their car south
until they reached the DPI Inspection roadblock station north
of Babinda. The witnesses stopped here and got out of their car
and alerted DPI staff to the object's presence. The DPI staffs
(three persons) are adamant that the object was not a star. The
two witnesses in the car drove to Babinda. When they arrived home
the object was approximately 75 degrees elevation and appeared
to be coming closer. One witness woke her son and they observed
the object a further 30 minutes until it moved away to the north.
The three witnesses at the DPI station observed the object moving
slowly north and south several times that morning until approximately
0630hrs.

Additional Information:

No air traffic movements were recorded in the area at the time.
At times the description of this object appears characteristic
of the movement of an astronomical body. The planet Venus does
not seem to be in the correct position to account for the sighting.
It was not above the horizon for the earlier part of the event.

Conclusion:

It would seem possible that some sightings of the object were
in fact sightings of the planet Venus, in particular those described
by the one or two of the DPI staff of the stationary object. They
often observed the object at intervals. Duration of sighting:
from 30 minutes to up to three hours. (UFOR(FNQ) - Investigator:
Holly Goriss)

At about2345hrs EST the male witness was driving his vehicle eastwards
along Bramston Beach Road at the Ellis River crossing. He observed
a round bright white object low and stationary in the sky and
ahead of him. The witness almost stopped and turned around being
worried as to what the object was. He decided though to drive
on towards Bramston Beach. The object was ahead on his right.
It commenced pacing his vehicle at distance and went behind the
low mountains. The witness drove on through the range and on coming
out the side saw the object now behind him on the right. Light
emanating from the object lit up the surrounding area. He turned
his vehicle around to look at the object, then he got out of his
vehicle and stood looking at the object. At this point the object
began moving away from the witness in a westerly direction. It
moved downward and behind a hill.

The witness described the round shaped object as clearly defined
edges of white light, two protuberances like "goatees"
( cone or triangular shaped) attached at the bottom of the circle
of the same colour. He described the objects size at its closest
as that of a tennis ball at arms length.

Additional Information:

No air traffic movements were recorded in the area at the time,
although in the nights following RAAF aircraft were operating
in the area on exercise only until 1930-2000hrs. This seems to
have been a previously planned exercise with the Army and Airforce,
not a reaction to the presence of the object the night before.
No sound was heard from the object even at its closest point to
the witness. Duration of the sighting: 10 minutes. (UFOR(FNQ)
- Investigator: Russell Boundy)

Luminous orange UFOs appeared on two nights last week in Townsville,
Queensland state, Australia, and were seen by dozens of people.
"The sudden appearance of seven unidentified flying objects
over Townsville last night (28th July 1998) and Monday
night (27th July 1998) have left officials baffled."

"Several officials were spooked when seven orange- reddish
lights were reported gliding over Annandale, Garbutt and Kirwan.
Senior air traffic controller Squadron Leader Trevor Beams
(Royal Australian Air Force, RAAF) said police, Army and RAAF
were unable to explain it. 'I have no idea what it was,' he said."

"Three air traffic tower duty-officers saw three lights
at 6:45pm and four lights at 7:45pm on Monday. Squadron Leader
Beams said the lights were moving slowly the sky at 800 to 1,000
meters (altitude) due east. Bicycle store owner Sam Bratton said
he saw four large orange lights move northwest over Kirwan at
7:45 (pm) on Monday. 'I saw them and called out to the people
in the pizza shop (next door) to come and have a look,' he said.
'This was weird. I have never seen anything like this before in
my life, and I am 75 years old. It was quite scary. I was not
drinking, and I have seen some strange things in my life, but
this would have to be the strangest.'"

"Cranbrook resident Peter Fox reported seeing five or
six orange lights at 8:50 to 9 p.m. last night (28th July)
before they disappeared in the direction of Mount Stuart. 'I thought
at first they might be helicopters, but there was no sound and
they weren't blinking,' Mr. Fox said."

"The Queensland Fire and Rescue Authority was called at
8:53pm by an off-duty officer, also in Cranbrook (Ainsley
Pavey, Townsville Bulletin, 29.07.98)

The female witness was travelling along the Bruce Hwy in her van,
just north of Meringa. She observed a very bright white triangular
shaped light high in the sky. The object was travelling on a north
trajectory at a speed described as faster than a jet aircraft.
The object was obscured from the witness's view by some high trees
ahead of the witness on the north side of the highway. The witness
described the object as the shape of a long skinny triangle of
bright white light, the edges of the shape were clearly defined
and sharp. The apex of the triangle was the leading point. The
witness described the size of the object as similar to that of
a B-747 aircraft when they fly over the area, or a little smaller
than the size of the moon.

Additional Information:

Checks with the Cairns Airport Traffic Control revealed no air
traffic movements travelling north at the time of the sighting.
The record logbook in the control centre had no abnormal sightings
logged for the time. The object described does not appear to be
a conventional aircraft as normal lighting configuration was not
evident. The object's description is not characteristic of meteorite
or space junk entry/burns. Duration of sighting: 4 seconds. (UFOR(FNQ)
- Investigator: Russell Boundy)

Ms K Wickson spotted a bright object in the sky the size of a
ten cent piece she called her mother Mrs. S Wickson of Eagle Heights
Mt Tamborine to have a look. The family then witnessed the bright
light zig zagging across the sky for around 20 minutes, Location
between Logan Village & Beaudesert (UFOICQ).

A lady travelling home from TAFE along the Logan Reserve Road,
said the object appeared quite large but it seemed to be moving
slowly away from her. It seems that this witness was looking at
the same object observed by an Eagle Heights woman ten minutes
prior. There was a bright light flashing underneath the object.
She said she watched it and it moved toward the Beaudesert area,
then it stopped and moved backwards before it disappeared. (UFOICQ)

The manager of a roadhouse south of Tennant Creek, NT claims mysterious
lights in the sky last night looked like fireworks.

There have been several reports of a bright light travelling across
the sky, from Alice Springs at about 7.30pm dropping into the
Gulf of Carpentaria in Queensland after 10pm. Lou Farkas, from
Wycliffe Well, NT who markets the roadhouse as a site for UFO
sightings, says he heard a 'bang' as well as seeing the light.

"Imagine the shape of a fighting boomerang, you know how
it's got that bend in it - so the light was formed and it was
probably about two to three inches wide probably in the sky, so
it covered quite a big area. But it formed completely. So it started
then formed the shape of the boomerang then it held until there
was an explosion then it all disappeared."

Additional Information:

Astronomers at the Tidbinbilla tracking station in Canberra say
a bright light that shot across the Northern Territory skies last
night was most likely a meteor. Territory police say there were
sightings from Alice Springs in the south to the Arnhem coast
in the north, with some witnesses claiming night turned into day.
Duncan Osborne from the Deep Space Tracking Station says the reports
are consistent with the effect of a meteorite entering the earth's
atmosphere and burning up.

"Normally if you see an object such as this stop what
you're doing, if you're driving the car pull over, because a lot
of UFO sightings are actually mistaken meteorites," he
said. "But when people are driving they mistake the light
itself is moving and if it travels in a straight direction that's
a good indicator that it's probably a meteorite."(ABC
Online News, Alice Springs 12.08.98)

Mrs. E Stansfield 61 years said that she saw cobwebs falling from
sky she saw 20 silver balls "....when some of them
maneuvered and increased speed this cobweb like substance started
to drop to the ground. Some of it got caught on the telephone
lines".. When she went out to her daughter she too was
covered in a fine film off cobwebs. When she tried to pick it
up it disintegrated in her hand. The family car had cobwebs all
over it John? Scooped it up and put it in a jar it to disintegrated.
Mr. E Stansfield stated that they were flying higher than local
air traffic. (Tamworth's North Daily Leader, 10.08.98)

Investigation to date:

"Ross Dowe" posted this Story to the Australian Associated
Press from the Australian UFO hot line, which in turn faxed it
out to all the newspapers. In which Tamworth's North Daily leader
ran the story. Duty officer stated that without an extensive search
of the duty rosters book or talking to his 70 manned staff, he
is currently unaware of any UFO sighting and has received no phone
calls as of Friday 10.00am today (14.08.98). (Robert Frola,
14.08.98)

The "angel hair" UFO spectacle at Quirindi, New South
Wales, Australia, on 10 August, 1998, has now been the subject
of interviews and investigation. Moira McGhee of INUFOR spoke
with the family on the evening of 11 August and arranged for a
sample of the material, which had been sealed in a yogurt container
with glad wrap and rubber band, to be dispatched to her. It was
packed with a cardboard cover and securely sealed (we hope!).
Moira kindly made the sample available to me on Saturday 15 August.
Bryan Dickeson of UFOR(NSW) also spoke with the family. I have
undertaken discussion with some specialists working with me and
we are attempting to arrange at least gas chromatography. The
determination of detector and column combinations has to be determined.
We may also try to undertake some micro video imaging if the
nature of the sample permits it. I have discussed the incident
at length with 2 of the witnesses. Mrs. Eunice Stanfield told
me that 2 strands of the material originally about 3 feet long
were put into the container. They were "evaporating"
and she indicated that prior to dispatch the material appeared
to have reduced in volume to about the size of a match had. Because
of this we have cooled the sample. It is currently held in a
freezer. This will assist us to determine if phase changes occur.
Because of the severe sample limitations we may only get one
crack at this. I will advise all concerned of any results. I
have refrained from opening the sample to facilitate needle sampling
under control sampling conditions, if this is determined as a
viable option.

Apart from my physical trace interests the following account of
my own experience with apparent "angel hair" will serve
to highlight that I have more than a passing acquaintance with
the subject. Is it spider's web or something more exotic? We
will have to wait and see. (Moira McGhee, Bill Chalker, Bryan
Dickeson, 17.08.98)

Account from Eunice Stansfield, aged 61. (One of at least four
witnesses.)

Soon after midday - around 1 o'clock(?) Eunice and Noelene were
in the back garden finishing their cups of tea. Noelene lay down
on bench looking straight up into the sky, while Eunice took the
cups back inside. On returning Eunice heard Noelene say "That's
going bloody fast!"

Eunice looked directly upwards where Noeleen was pointing and
saw a silver ball moving quickly across the sky from East to West
(?) over Quirindi.

Then several other objects appeared. They were all a long way
up "higher than the jets they often see going overhead"
and were a bright metallic grey with a size "like tennis
balls". They moved quickly, or stopped (hovered) and started
in a very complex series of movements. They moved up and down
and around, but "never got any lower than the usual height
normal planes travel over [Quirindi] at". The objects made
absolutely no noise.

Her husband, Mario (an ex NATO pilot in the 6-day Middle East
war) estimated they were flying around the 50-60,000 feet.

She noticed that one of the larger spheres seemed to turn side-on
slightly , and she could see that it was in fact two spheres,
connected ("tethered") by a cylinder (soon after described
to Eunice as a "dumb-bell" shape). Two of these dumbbells
were seen during the sighting, which lasted well over 1.5 hours
(possibly 2 hours).

Mostly the objects were the smaller, simple spheres and at one
time there were about 20 objects in the sky at once. They tended
to arrive slowly from the East or the West "in waves",
before beginning their fast and complex maneuvers.

Eunice described the larger objects as being "2-3 inches
long" at arm's length which suggests they were between 820
and 980 metres across (900 + 80 metres) - (Peter Turner, Bryan
Dickeson - details to be confirmed).

Maneuvers very complex, and covered whole of the sky - difficult
for any one witness to follow all that was going on:

Examples of movements (some details to be confirmed):

1. Objects in formation would veer off to the left and right,
or come up close to each other, almost to the same point and stop/hover
- showing fast, precise flying, right-angle turns, or same complex
maneuvers mirrored by several objects, or objects moving side-by-side.

2. Would come in reasonably slow but maneuver very fast - at "a
speed like jets" turning and formation flying. Up to 20 maneuvering
at a time, and others "coming in over the house"

3. At one time there were four spheres stacked up one on top of
each other and stationary.

4. Lines of stationary spheres would leapfrog one another. One
sphere would move up and over a stationary one in front or behind
it and fall into line position in front or behind the stationary
sphere by exactly the same distance. The next sphere would leapfrog
under its neighboring sphere and take up position. These were
precise and deliberate, controlled movements.

5. From a flying 'arrowhead' formation of five, one banked left,
one right, one or two would fly straight-ahead and one fly straight
downwards.

6. Two spheres followed each other in tight formation and at very
high speed while other spheres were moving in and around these
two central objects, travelling even faster and in a more intricate
flightpath.

7. Mario saw at least one of the smaller spheres fly up and into
one of the bigger dumb bells (after he had been talking to another
Ufologist he began referring to these two larger dumbbell craft
as 'motherships')

8. One of the stationary dumbbells had a smaller sphere head directly
towards it at very high speed as if to collide, then executed
a right-angle turn, and swerved to pass right through the dumbbell
and came out the other side unchanged -- all at high speed!

No 'exhaust' could be seen when these objects flew in a straight
line from A - B. But when objects maneuvering, they could clearly
see a light whitish material streaming out from inside (?) the
object and behind (this was definitely not a vapour); "it
came out of the back of the craft and fell downwards."

The light material appeared to consolidate into long, substantial
whitish strands that could be seen falling slowly downwards all
around the local area, onto telephone wires and trees. It was
not being blown by the wind - there was no wind - there had been
several days of heavy rain previously (in other nearby parts of
NSW record rainfalls had/were creating flood conditions); Monday
was the first clear, clean blue-sky day after this rain. The air
temperature was still cool and wintry.

The white material appeared to be carried by slight warm-air "thermals".
Very little of this material actually landed in Eunice's place,
but pieces fell in surrounding areas and on the street nearby.
Noelene first retrieved a 30-cm strand from a nearby bush - it
was extremely light, whitish and strong, like cotton, requiring
a good tug to break. It quickly "dissolved" away to
nothing when handled.

Noelene retrieved a second piece which was about 90 cm long and
which seemed to be made up of two separate strands. This was put
into a clean yogurt container with a piece of glad wrap over the
top and a rubber band to hold the glad wrap in place.

Eunice had gone to speak to husband Mario, who was working in
the front of the house on the verandah on repairs, sawing wood
with an electric saw. At first, he thought Eunice was pulling
his leg but could see the objects flying around above the roof of the house

Mario turned his saw off and placed it on the ground. The saw
turned itself back on (which was unusual) -- still to confirm
what happened with saw after that (Peter Turner, Bryan Dickeson)

Mario (ex-NATO pilot) said the craft were some way off - higher
than most jets at possibly 50-60,000 feet. He's familiar with
conventional aircraft over flying the area.

Looking straight up, he saw four objects stacked one on top of
the other, in line. In the middle was one of the larger dumb bells.
He thought it must be helicopters at first, but too big. Appeared
to be going to one side and then the other. Mario watched display
for a good 50 minutes - very clear.

Eunice went inside to telephone others and look for their video
camera. She first phoned Telstra Information to see whom she should
call. They put her on to Ross Dowe's National UFO Information
hotline. She spoke to Ross Dowe for about 5 minutes (at about
$3.20 per minute) before saying she had to ring off because she
couldn't afford to keep paying for the call (Ross wanted her to
keep talking). She gave him her phone number so he could call
her back (Ross had said he couldn't guarantee that he would call
her back).

(Apparently Telstra gets the first $3.20 per call and Ross gets
any further time/value per caller - (Bryan Dickeson))

Within a few minutes, the phone started jumping as radio stations
and newspapers began calling Eunice back - Ross must have put
it on the wire (WITHOUT even asking Eunice's permission) and had
still not called back by the following Friday. By the time she
gave up answering the phone and went back outside, the objects
had all gone. No video was taken.

Mario said that the objects had been "jumping from side to
side" - they appeared to fade-out in one location and fade-in
in another location nearby, before they all disappeared.

The same day, but later on that evening at around 7.30, Mario
heard all the neighborhood dogs barking and went outside - he
saw a very bright reddish orange ball of fire, a little smaller
than the moon pass slowly and smoothly overhead from the east
- as if covered with flames. He was unable to estimate it's height,
except to say it was probably not very high up - It soon disappeared
after several minutes behind a range of low hills/mountains to
the west of Quirindi.

After an account appeared in local papers, such as the Northern
Daily Leader (A short, mistake-ridden account also appeared in
the Sydney Daily Telegraph on Tuesday 11 August) and state-wide
radio news telephone interviews with Eunice, she was contacted
by Gary from Gunnedah. He is a Telstra technician who was visiting
the telephone exchange at Piallaway, 40 km North of Quirindi.
At about 2 p.m. Gary noticed masses of white cobweb-like material
falling down around him - falling onto fences, telephone lines
and bushes etc and onto his car. He could not see anything up
in the (clear) sky at all. Mystified by it all. The cobweb-like
substance evaporated fairly quickly when he handled it. When he
got back home to Gunnedah, he noticed there were still some remnants
on his car but this had since vanished.

During all her unanticipated 'public' interviews with (some very
smart-ass) city radio reporters, Eunice has remained completely
unflappable about what they all saw in Quyirindi. To her it's
a fact that they saw something unusual. Eunice has since been
interviewed over the 'phone by Moira McGhee (INUFOR), and Peter
Turner and Bryan Dickeson (UFORNSW); but has had numerous other
calls from media.

Eunice decided to send her yogurt container of angel's hair to
Moira McGhee of INUFOR in Sydney. (Eunice posted it Wednesday,
and Moira received it on Thursday.) Moira contacted Bryan Dickeson
(UFORNSW) on Friday - who suggested she put it into fridge freezer
(angel's hair is a notoriously unstable material which sublimates
from solid to gas phase very quickly) while Bryan located someone
to analyze the material. Time is now of the essence.

The yogurt-container 'sample' has since been passed on by Moira
McGhee to UFO researcher Bill Chalker (on Saturday evening 14
August) for laboratory analysis via his contacts - for gas chromatography
tests, in vacuum, by a Sydney laboratory. The package still had
not been opened in Sydney on Saturday evening, to check the state
of its contents, HOWEVER......the Angels hair (AH) sample may
have already sublimated altogether. Reports of AH are fairly common
from the 1950s and 1960s (much rarer recently). One author (Dickeson)
remembers a personal AH incident from March 1958 (when aged 7)
in New Zealand when a small hank of fibres landed on his sleeve
from a completely clear blue sky and sublimated within 5 minutes
before he could get home ½ kilometre away to show parents.

There are extremely few good AH cases from the late 1960s to 1990s.
Most incidents have since been attributed to 'gossamer' incidents
(the massive accumulation of web-parachutes created by millions
of small spiders for seasonal dispersal/migration - AH ideas have
fallen out of favour in recent years due to the lack of good,
recent examples)

Theories from 1950s (1959) and 1960s re angel's hair could now
be tested fairly reasonably if UFO researchers have good/prompt
access to gas chromatography and X-ray crystallography equipment.

Back then, AH was seen as a sort of polymer of air molecules (nitrogen
and oxygen) caused by the unusual high frequency, electromagnetic
and plasma effects associated with some UFOs (especially spinning
disks). For example, in a fairy floss/candy floss machine, coloured
sugar is melted in a small, heated, rotating cup and flows outwards
through tiny holes in the walls of the spinning cup by centrifugal
force. When the molten sugar hits the air it cools into the fibres
of coloured sugar-glass we call fairy floss.

Similarly, AH is thought to form by a metastable polymerization
of Nitrogen and Oxygen. The plasma electromagnetic effects near
UFOs create highly-directed, 180 degree metastable N-O bonds,
which link up into long polymers/fibres around a quickly-rotating
body such as a disk, or in air streaming through the magnetic
field generated in the central cylindrical section of a bar-magnet-type
field. This is consistent in the Quirindi case with a moving dumb-bell-shaped
object, where AH was seen to form behind the object. This 180
degree bonding seems chemically possible using some of the so-called
'forbidden' electron states of Nitrogen and Oxygen (states which
are usually only seen to occur in some aurora phenomena in the
near-vacuum plasma environment at the top of the atmosphere, and
which can be simulated in the laboratory). These bonds are, however,
unstable under normal conditions and the N and O atoms drop off
the ends of the AH fibre and return to their usual N2 and O2 states
- that is, the fibres sublimate from a solid to a gas without
melting (to a liquid) in between.

If you have ever used an out-of-synch arc welder, you can (under
the right temperature and moisture conditions) create small amounts
of a similar sort of white 'ash' at the electrode, which quickly
sublimates. Also, a light white material is created momentarily
by the sparks from a large, discharging Van de Graaf generator
in the laboratory. (Bryan Dickeson has seen this phenomenon at
the School of Electrical Engineering at 11am, in Christchurch
New Zealand in 1974. A path of 'ash' an exactly duplicate the
shape of the discharge sparks is created. This always floats downwards
for a second or so, presumably under the influence of gravity,
before fading/disappearing. The two electrical engineers present
acknowledged this phenomenon and said it didn't seem to be a visual
artifact created on the eye retinas of observers by the bright
discharge spark, but weren't interested/didn't know what it was).
This material has(to our knowledge) never been analyzed, because
it's seen to have no commercial/research potential.

For ufologists, recreating AH in the laboratory could well indicate
the sorts of electromagnetic conditions found near UFOs. Any information
Bill Chalker's analysis team can find about the Quirindi material
will therefore be most welcome. (Peter Turner, Bryan Dickeson,
18.08.98)